Living off prostitution

Women born into a Bedia family remain unmarried. They engage in prostitution in order to provide for the economic needs of their natal family.
And Bedia men have developed a strong resistance to any change in their mode of living, writes
Anuja Agrawal.

Engagement of women in prostitution with familial consent is widespread among some of the erstwhile nomadic groups such as
the Bedia, Nat, Sansi, Kanjar, and Bachada found in north, northwestern, and central India. In north India, the Bedias are the best known for pursuing prostitution as
a familial occupation.

Women born into a Bedia family remain unmarried. They
engage in prostitution in order to provide for the
economic needs of their natal family. Bedia brothers,
that is, the men, although not economically
productive, do marry. The wives of the Bedia men do
not engage in prostitution. But they are largely
responsible for all the domestic work including
cooking, washing, cleaning, and childcare.

It is interesting that members of the Bedia community
resort to starkly contradictory representations of the
prostitution of their women. They vacillate between
two extremes. The weight of tradition on the one
hand, and the "choice" of individual women on the
other. A middle-aged wife said, "This is going on
for many generations. We don't even know. It has been
going on from the times of our ancestors." But she
added a little later that "earlier no one knew this
occupation".

The Bedias' situation departs considerably from the
'man the breadwinner, woman the home-keeper' model. The
economy of the Bedias, insofar as it is dependent on
prostitution, is sustained at two levels by women's
labour. The Bedia men on the other hand are the most
parasitic members of their family.

On another occasion, she explained to me, "Earlier we
used to do like this: Sometimes we would camp in one
village sometimes in another. We used to beg and
survive. Then one ancestor of ours started this
tradition. He put his daughter into this 'dhanda'.
He even set out all the rules of the trade. And ever
since then, this has been going on in the community."

In yet another conversation, the same woman said: "Our
ancestors started it". But her sister-in-law quipped
in: "No, it was not really the old people/ancestors.
Sisters and daughters started this of their own
will".

A crucial feature of the Bedia families dependent upon
the prostitution of their women is that women do all
the well-defined work within and outside the
household. The wives of Bedia men generally accomplish
all the domestic work. A wife cooks, cleans, washes,
and takes care of all the members of the household
including her sisters-in-law and any children that the
latter may have. In areas where the Bedia women
migrate in order to engage in sex work, their children
are often left behind and brought up by their mothers
or brothers' wives. The domestic labour of a wife in
her husband's household frees the unmarried Bedia
sisters and daughters to engage in sex work. The
needs of a cash income are fulfilled by the
prostitution of unmarried women or the non-kin women
kept for this purpose within a Bedia family.

In sharp contrast, Bedia men do not engage in any
kind of wage or even non-wage work for the major part
of their lives. While the community members do own
some land, the young Bedia men do not participate in
its cultivation although some of the older men do so
intermittently. Families owning some cultivable land
employ wage workers from other castes/communities for
agricultural work during the harvesting season. In
some families, the land has been let out to
sharecroppers despite the availability of labour
within the family. Bedia men sometimes participate
in domestic chores. Under some conditions, the men
may engage in some gainful activities such as
agriculture, rickshaw pulling, or some other work
involving manual labour. But they barely ever do so
consistently and in no case are they primarily
responsible for the sustenance of their family.

The Bedias' situation departs considerably from the
'man the breadwinner, woman the home-keeper' model. The
economy of the Bedias, insofar as it is dependent on
prostitution, is sustained at two levels by women's
labour. The Bedia men on the other hand are the most
parasitic members of their family.

It is hardly surprising that the community members
draw a clear correlation between men's inactivity and
their increasing dependence upon prostitution. It is
extremely difficult to have a precise estimation of
income from prostitution; the women generally work
with a daily target of earning a certain amount
through entertaining an approximate number of clients.

Accordingly, they tend to calculate both earnings and
expenditure on a daily basis. The situation changes
somewhat with the migration of women who remit
earnings more or less regularly. The Bedias in Nagla
admitted that a fixed amount comes from Mumbai where
many Bedia young women had migrated in recent years.

In 1999-2000, most Bedia women maintained that they do
not accept anything less than Rs.50 from
any of their customers for a single visit. This
minimum figure had been raised to Rs 100 by 2002.

Women also said that the "rate" depends upon their
perception of the paying capacity of the customer. In
fact, Rs 100 is said to be the rate for a
sadak-chaap (run-of-the-mill) customer while a man
who seems better off can even be asked to cough up Rs
500. Westerners and other foreigners are welcomed for
their "dollars" and generally higher paying capacity.
Even the curiosity value of the hamlet sometimes earns
the community members gifts in money and kind (soap,
shampoos, lipsticks, ball-pens, etc.) from passing
foreign tourists.

The earnings in Mumbai are much higher than Nagla or
even Delhi brothels. One girl can easily earn anything
between Rs 2,000 to 3,000 in a night's work.

The women also claimed that the chances of their
finding a stable, reliable, and wealthy patron were
much better in Mumbai than elsewhere. Such men often
provided the women with living accommodation worth Rs
700,000-800,000, gave them Rs 20,000-30,000 toward
their monthly expenses and did not hesitate in parting
with another 50,000-100,000 if the women asked them to
do so for any special occasion.

Now, it is undeniable that all Bedia women cannot earn
in such high figures. But the significance of the
"possibility" of this kind of income can barely be
underestimated.

The most likely employment options of Bedia men are as
agricultural workers, workers in the informal sector,
or in petty business keeping. The income
possibilities from occupations that are the most
likely economic options for the Bedia men are far
inferior as compared to possibilities offered by
prostitution. While the income possibilities from both
unskilled and semi-skilled occupations range from
anything between Rs 25 and 250 per day, the usual
daily income is likely to be in the bracket of 75 to
150. The Bedia women expect to earn anything between
four to 10 times this figure, if not even more.

Bedia men have developed a strong resistance to any
change in their mode of living.

There is also much that the community does to redress
the feeling of incapacity that the men might have.
Just as small children are made to feel important
about little things they do, so are Bedia men
treated. For many of the married men with grown-up
children, "shopping in the city" is mentioned as
foremost among the activities. Similarly, irrigating
the fields occasionally or getting fuel-wood from the
forest are all bestowed with a disproportionate
importance. Men's visits to the local courts to deal
with the police cases registered against their sisters
are also treated as "work." Thus, even though most
Bedia men do not contribute much to their family
economy, they are not necessarily allowed to confront
this fact on a day-to-day basis.

The security of living in a more or less comfortable
home with no responsibility is not something Bedia men
are willing to easily give up.
(Women's Feature Service)

Anuja Agrawal24 January 2008

Anuja Agrawal is Reader in the Department of Sociology, University of Delhi. This article is extracted from "Chaste Wives and Prostitute Sisters -
Patriarchy and Prostitution Among the Bedias of India" by Anuja Agrawal; Published by Routledge; Price: Rs.650; Pp: 251.

Tuli Shah
Dear Ms. Anuja, the extract from the book shows what endeavours u must've put in, in eliciting such a stark fact from the Bedia community. It's appalling... for the state of the women here. I wish, people resorted to education & periodic cleansing of their minds in proper positive way. Throwing women of the family to go through such an ordeal can be very dangerous for their health (chances of getting infected with Hiv, etc.). I wish this could be changed. I wish the Bedia men change for the better.
regards,
Tuli

February 08 2008, 4:42 AM ·
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vijay tomar
Dear Ms. Anujaji,
First of all i would like to appreciate your effort made in the field like this. In our country people rarely thinks on the topic which you have raised in your article. I an Advocate by profession and I am practising at Bhopal Bar Association. I would definately like to add one resent incident which happened in Bhopal. At the birthday ceremony of one of the congress leader, some of their members arranged a dance party in day time and for this purpose they called Bedni's and during their dance all the members including Very Big names, misbehaved with them, although some media persons was covering there, but all them kept theirselves mum. The complaint regarding this was made to the higher authorities but the result of that complaint was same as we all knew, nothing happened to them (leaders). This incident has raised one important question," Are Bedni's not a human being?", Who will come forward to save their human rights, dignity and respect?
As there are so many things on which we can talk about but for now it is enough.
Once again thanks for work which you have done to awake our sleeping society/citizens.
with regards.
Vijay.B.Singh Tomar
Advocate

April 08 2008, 8:04 AM ·
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Bones
However our wishful thinking, the fact remains that it is upon themselves to bring about change. All the women of the family may simply stop doing "chores" or "work", and thus force the parasitic members into action...and such action might not be for the best or betterment at all. Facing facts, there is absolutely NOTHING the global community could do for them if they refuse or hesitate to embrace change.

April 14 2008, 6:44 AM ·
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salman s merchant
i have been staying and living with a bedia girl who had been sent to mumbai for prostitution, the lure of money is worst among bedia mens, who are mere worthless, good for nothing, i have complete details of bedia womens operating in mumbai, tit-bit of their intent, action, deeds, interesting facts about them and their tradition. if, more needed get in to touch with me on my 9702164882

April 19 2009, 7:19 AM ·
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henry james
thanks for such valuable information being traced, tackled and transferred to peoplke at large to arouse pity for invoking human rights to be guaranteed to them for safety and betterment of life-condition. More after hearing from Ms. Anuja Agarwal,
peter john
josephine

April 29 2009, 10:32 PM ·
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AABA
Dear Sir/madem,
one woman was working a sex worker. if she wants to live the prostitution. & she have no option to wedding with another. due to her children. & she never wants to marry what will do she? please suggest me how she is getting money for her children & her life?

May 27 2011, 3:24 PM ·
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raja(critics)
this is very informative......hard and painful to read....cheers to anujali for doing such a hard work and coming up with this book....hope the bedia women situation change for good

June 19 2011, 9:25 AM ·
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raghupati
God! Where do I begin? Prostitution has been in practice over thousands of years. To root it out is not that easy. It is funny that now we get both male and female prostitutes. Do not know if this problem is eradicable in the near future to come. I do not watch the TV Serial Phir Subha Hogi. It is quite disgusting to me. I do not see any morning coming soon. Thanks.

December 08 2012, 6:07 PM ·
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Santosh Mishra
Anuja had shown great efforts and desication towarda the reaserch for her book 'Chaste wives.....' I feel her research should continue and cover further dark sides of Bedia girls and their bewithing tricky affections to woo their customers who fall prey in their hands.

May 23 2013, 7:41 PM ·
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